


Thanks

by SourWolf



Series: Lessons Learned [10]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-21
Updated: 2012-04-21
Packaged: 2017-11-04 01:40:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/388257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SourWolf/pseuds/SourWolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stiles has to tell Derek that they were expected at the party eventually, but that doesn't mean he can't stall for a little while.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Thanks

It was hard to say no to Lydia Martin. She was beautiful and smart and tempting and oh my God why did I let this happen? Derek was going to kill me when he found out I had basically promised that I would drag Derek to the party with me.

“Stiles.” Bye, Dad. Bye cruel, cruel world that kills innocent boys before they get their first real kiss. Not me. Just boys. I’ve been kissed. Does a kiss in daycare the first time you ever met your future best friend because your mom had to go out of town and there was no one else to watch you count?

“Yeah?” I answered, ignoring the glare and trying to focus on the way Derek’s hair always seemed perfect even though I had never seen any kind of product or running water or even soap. Did werewolves need to bathe often? I would have to ask Scott the next time he needed to take a breath in the lifelong make-out session he shared with Allison. Nevermind, at least I’d actually have a chance to ask Derek. He’d probably even give me an answer before throwing me against a wall and tearing my heart out. Was that his favorite organ? Probably not, he seemed like the type that people would happily give their hearts to. It was probably liver.

“Stiles!” Derek’s annoyed tone really did belie the strength of the werewolf’s patience. I hadn’t taken my Adderall in a while. He noticed it too. He said that I actually smell good to him without ‘the stench of rancid vinegar’ hanging all over me. I thought he was kidding (not the haha kind that Derek Hale isn’t capable of, the ‘I’m really destroying your self-perception kind) until I googled it. Apparently, amphetamines really do make you smell like vinegar. No wonder people avoided me.

“I’m listening.” I answered, flashing a grin at Derek to hide what I was thinking.

“I asked why you’re so nervous.” He growled at me, doing his best to disassemble me with his eyes and identify the problem before I had the opportunity to lie to him. It would suck to play poker against him.

“Nervous? I’m not. At all.” I answered, giving a full smile to prove it. He was unhappy with that answer mainly because I hadn’t been lying when I said it. He didn’t like it when his senses conflicted. He knew I was lying, but he hadn’t gotten any of the physiological signs because I’d gotten so lost in my thoughts that I’d forgotten about the party until now.

“You are.” He growled, narrowing his hazel eyes at me. I’d been around Derek so much lately that I could classify this particular glare, this particular tone of voice, this particular flair of nostrils as his lie-to-me-again-and-I’ll-rip-your-arm-off-and-beat-you-with-it-until-you-pass-out look.

“Well, of course I’m going to be nervous if you’re threatening me like this!” I deflected the question again, hoping it might disappear if I ignored it long enough. Maybe that strawberry blonde goddess wouldn’t become a she-demon if we didn’t go to the party after all.

I shrank under the next glare. That was the one that came before getting shoved into a wall with claws on my throat and fangs threatening to rip off my face. “Okay, fine, look. It’s all Lydia’s fault, really. She wouldn’t let me say no so don’t kill me, alright?”

Derek didn’t answer. Instead, he watched me curiously, still trying to figure everything out on his own. You’d think he’d be smart enough to realize that he needed me to do the thinking by now even though Scott had over a decade to figure it out and still hadn’t come close.

That look always concerned me the most. No one ever looked at me like that. The closest thing I ever got was the look that Scott gave me when he didn’t understand what I was saying. And trust me, quantity did not replace quality here. Derek’s look was genuinely inquisitive, like he wanted to figure everything about me. It was unnerving.

“So, why is Scott such a problem for you?” I asked, trying to change the subject. “I mean, you’re the alpha. He’s your beta Shouldn’t he have to listen to you?”

Derek gave a soft sigh, shaking his head and looking into drawer he’d salvaged from a burnt armoire. I wasn’t sure why he let me be around for this process. It felt so intimate and the longer we worked at going through everything that hadn’t been turned to ash (which seemed like a surprising amount after a fire like that), the more I felt like I knew Derek. I could read him a little better, understand his moods, and see through the anger and grumpiness that Derek protected himself with. I saw now that most of the time he was just sad. I was happy to give him someone to talk to the way that he did for me at my mom’s funeral. I just wish it didn’t have to be so many years later. Maybe things could have been better for him if he did have someone to turn to besides his sister. Someone that could help share the burden of the guilt that he didn’t deserve to carry in the first place.

“Its different with him. By all rights, he should be dead.” Derek said slowly, trying to piece the sentence together to soften the blow of the words as much as possible.

I stared at him in confusion and shook my head, waving a finger at him. “No! Why would you say that? He helped you! We helped you! Why are you wanting to kill him off?”

A powerful hand grabbed my forearm, forcing me closer and making me meet his glare. “I said should.” He growled, his eyes flickering with orange like an open meadow of green grass and fresh earth catching fire. I realized that I’d overreacted, accused him of something that he wasn’t even planning on doing, and betrayed the trust I’d built with him all in that brief instant.

I swallowed hard, not meeting his stare again as I nodded. In some weak attempt to repair what damage I caused, I moved from where I had been sitting on the ruined couch to sit on the ground at Derek’s side where he was squatted over his family’s belongings. “Right. So… what does that mean?”

Derek released my arm, and even though I didn’t dare look up in fear of seeing that fire again tainting the meadow that had recently been haunting my dreams, I could tell he was giving me that stare again. Not the I’ll-tear-you-to-pieces glare, but the stare of a man that had the most complex puzzle he’d ever seen put in front of him and, unlike Scott’s lost expression, told me that he had every intention of actually trying to solve the puzzle.

He dropped down next to me, the shoulder that bumped into mine telling me that my attempt was accepted. “Direct genetic lineages and turned betas of previous alphas are meant to be culled. It’s how an alpha wipes the slate clean. Mates, children, loyal members of the pack, they have to be gotten rid of to make way for the new alpha and his pack dynamic. Betas turned by other alphas have a weaker connection to their new alpha unless they choose to accept him, which is rare.”

He was trying to word it gently, to make it as easy to process as possible. It almost offended me that he was talking to me how I would probably be telling this information to Scott, but I really he was just trying to be a good teacher. He knew I’d only been exposed to this through google and possibly the book he gave me, which had mentioned this but never explained it. As awkward as it was for Derek to be anything less than grumpy, I knew that he was a good alpha even though I was just a human. He’d be making his parents very proud of their little puppy.

“So how does he accept you? Does he have to let you pee on him to claim him as yours? Does he have to roll over whenever you tell him to? Oh, God, do you have to hump him to show your dominance?” I asked, grinning to myself. “OW! Shit! What the crap, man?” I complained, rubbing the back of my head and glaring at Derek in protest.

He ignored my reaction entirely, satisfied with the smack to the back of the head he’d given me as punishment for my comments. “He doesn’t have to do anything. We’re still a pack. Even if it’s weak, we have a connection. I’ll know if he submits to me and the bond will strengthen as a result.  But he’s not making it easy.”

“Well, he’s not making anything easy but Allison. He barely even talks to me anymore.” I replied, the bitterness I felt seeping into my words.

“I know.” He replied, leaning into me lightly. Derek’s touches had a way of convey exactly what he wanted but couldn’t put into words. Relief washed over me like a wave that radiated from the point of cantact that I shared with Derek. It eased the bitterness I’d been feeling and made me believe like Scott would quit being an idiotic jackass eventually. “At least you have the rest of the pack to fall back on.”

My jaw dropped. Literally dropped, cartoon-style and everything. I stared at Derek, trying to figure out exactly what he meant by that, but it was hard to misread. Derek was actually telling me that he was there for me. No death glare or anything. I guess I should have expected it, Derek of all people would understand just how much it sucks to be alone.

“But that’s not saying much when there’s only two people in the pack to start with.” I replied with a playful grin, not wanting to make it weird by thanking him.

“Three.” Derek muttered, and at first I just thought it was a grunt. He didn’t meet my curious gaze.

“Three? Dude! Do you have an omega tied up in the basement or something? Can I see it? You know you can trust me, right? Does it look like a dog? Does it have to do everything you want?” Derek gave me a look of disgust coupled with anger. At least that’s what I think it was. I couldn’t be sure because I only had a split second to see it before I was sprawled facedown over the dust-covered floor.

His knee pressed into the small of my back and his hand gripped my neck. I could feel the warmth of his breath against my ear and my automatic response was to close my eyes and tilt my head away from him to bare my neck.

“Oww. Okay, Derek, this is really uncomfortable.” I said as I attempted to push myself up. Unsurprisingly, his weight bore down on me, preventing me from getting up as the rumble of a warning growl shook my body.

“You really think I’d have anyone tied up after everything that’s happened?” He snarled, a fang brushing against my neck and eliciting the faint sound of a whimper from my throat.

“I was just wondering what you meant by three! It’s not Allison, is it? Tell me it’s not Allison. If she’s Scott’s mate now or whatever, I may as well give up on life.” I groaned, dropping my cheek onto the cold floor.

The action sent dust flying all around and up my nose seemed to be a preference. I ended up sneezing nine times and Derek pulled me up after the second to get me away from the evil army of dust motes that were trying to invade my lungs. When I was finally able to fight off the invaders and stop sneezing, Derek begrudgingly muttered a “Bless you.”

“So where were we?” I asked with a sniffle, leaning against the arm that Derek had been using to support me during my sneezing fit. “Oh, right! Allison. Its not Allison, right?”

“Its you, dumbass.” Derek growled, his voice low like he didn’t even want to admit it now. I watched as he got to his feet and moved his pile of things to keep to the mantle of the fireplace, where the picture of his mother looked over the house like the figurehead of a sunken ship and little Derek like a ghost that just couldn’t leave it all behind.

“So… Its not Allison?” I asked, testing to see if this was some kind of a joke. My mind reeled with questions about why Derek would want a human in his pack, but he was tense enough as he stared at his mother probably begging her for the strength to deal with the hyperactive teenager that was invading his life.

I was wondering why I couldn’t remember having seen the woman in the photograph if she was my mother’s best friend when Derek’s voice cut through my thought process. “I’ve answered two questions.” He stated gruffly, hazel eyes turned to me expectantly.

“Why were you feeling so anxious when you showed up?” Derek questioned, not turning around to face me. His eyes seemed fixed on the picture in front of him and the house let out an eerie, almost nostalgic sigh as a breeze drifted through the building’s multiple holes.

I slid my hand over my face and through my short hair. I’d been doing such a good job of keeping him away from that topic that it slipped my mind. Why did I say yes to Lydia again? Right, because she was basically perfect in every way ever. Why didn’t I drag Derek to the store with me? I bet that grumpy wolf could say no to the most adorable little girl dressed as a fairy princess on her birthday. If he wanted to, he could probably even get her to give him all of her awesome presents. His life was just unfair. Why couldn’t I get little girl presents?

I mentally slapped myself for that thought and let out a sigh. “Remember what I said. Lydia basically threatened me into saying yes so don’t kill me for it but I agreed that we’d both go to Jackson’s New Year’s Eve party because she all over me and it felt kind of good to actually be getting attention from her and I just couldn’t help it, okay?” I said, letting it all spill out and hoping that the fact that Lydia Martin actually touched me would distract Derek from the party as much as it did me.

Red flashed briefly in his eyes as he stared at me, but I could tell that his anger wasn’t directed at me because it was an anger I’d never seen before. I guess he was mad at Lydia for using her amazing feminine wiles against me to get her way.

He let out a heavy sigh, but he gave one slow, thoughtful nod. “Fine.”

I stared at Derek in shock, my mouth hanging open slightly as I tried to comprehend the fact that Derek Hale said yes to going with me to a high school party without even needing to use my awesome coaxing skills.

A strong hand closed my mouth and made me aware of the fact that I had been gawking at the older man. I pulled away from his touch and cleared my throat as I fixed my clothes, not meeting the steady gaze that Derek had fixed on me. I was pretty sure it would be that puzzled look he had when he was trying to figure things out. Being the focus of that look was one of the most uncomfortably frightening experiences I had.

“So.” Derek said, going back the task of sorting out the salvageable from the refuse. “What time do I need to pick you up?”

“Pick me up? I have my own jeep. I can drive there. I know where it is and everything.” I replied, probably gawking again. Now he was offering rides too?

Derek let out a sigh, rubbing the bridge of his nose like Dad did when I was giving him a headache. “You can drive up to a party in a raggedy Jeep or a black Camaro. Which one is going to give you the most attention and which one is going to shut Jackson’s mouth?” He asked patiently.

I saw his point. He was offering the ride as a favor. The Camaro’s seats were comfortable too. “Fine. I guess you can come by around nine. I’m assuming Scott’s getting a ride with Allison anyway. So you know, whatever there.”

I knew Derek saw the pain on my face or maybe he could hear it in my voice. Did Scott even realize that it was the first party we’d be going to separately? Derek squeezed my shoulder as my lip quivered, and I couldn’t bring myself to pull away from the touch to preserve what little masculinity I had in the alpha’s eyes. It was stupid of me to be so upset anyway, so I just shook it and gave Derek a grin.

“So, I came over here to help and you’ve just been running your mouth the entire time. We going to work or what? Dad’s working late again so I’ll call and have some take out delivered here and take his home with me.” I offered, forcing my grin into a full, goofy smile and shaking free of Derek’s hold.

He didn’t fight it, but I could tell by the why he stalled for a moment that he considered calling me out on the bluff. I was glad that he decided it against it and joined me in trying to pull diamonds from the rough.

It was a lot easier to ignore the fact that my best friend was willingly becoming an absentee in my life with Derek around. I glanced at him repeatedly as we worked, wondering how I could thank the man who had lost too much in his life, who had willingly taken beatings for Scott and me, and who was now my alpha protecting me from the overwhelming feeling of loneliness that he knew so well.

So, when Derek  found something that brought a mixture of emotions to his face, I was more than happy to prod him between the ribs with a smile that made me look like an idiot and say thanks as he bared his teeth and growled at me.

**Author's Note:**

> Big plans for the next chapter. I hope you're as excited as I am.


End file.
